The Big Dream

Synopsis: The Big Dream is a low intermediate level interactive story, which roughly follows the plot of the Charles Dickens story Great Expectations. It adapts it to a Japanese setting and tells the story of a young Japanese orphan who grows up and leaves his country home for the city and later New York City, where he finally meets the mysterious benefactor who has influenced his life so much.

The syntax that we focus on in this story is listed on the first page under contents and there are thirteen episodes so if a class does one episode a week, the story can last roughly a term/semester.

Listen to Episode 1:The Graveyard (mp3), voices by Mark White and Hiromi Campbell. Note: this is meant to be an example of what a guided story might sound like when two people engage with it in a classroom setting.

CONTENTS

1. The Graveyard (“be” verbs)
2. The Strange Old Woman (there is/there are)
3. The Letter from a Stranger (present simple)
4. The Attack in the Park (present perfect)
5. The Transfer (present continuous)
6. The Trip to New York (future “going to”)
7. The Restaurant (“would” conditionals)
8. Working in New York (gerunds)
9. The Rich Stranger (one/some/almost all of them)
10. The Bad Day (adjective plus infinitive)
11. The Old Man (should)
12. The New Job (comparatives)
13. The Temple (used to)

Hi.
My name is Kevin and I am from Ecuador.
I am interested in the Interactive Story The Big Dream . It is a lower intermediate level interactive story. I am looking for a partner to work through that story.
My contact details are kevinasimbaya@skype.com
andkaam2012@hotmail.com

Thank you much for all do to help people in all around world
how to learn and improve the speaking and listening abilities.
I very like to learn through the interactive stories,
by listening the stories on my iPod.
I downloanded the text and mp3 of The big dreams” episode but
I found that there is only a first audio- mp3 part of it available.
My question is if there are also the next parts of audio-records
available. I would be very happy if I could to get them all.
Once again thank you for this site.
With my best regards
Maria

Hi Maria….glad you like The Big Dream. Unfortunately, we only recorded one of the episodes, as an example of what you can do with a partner of your own. Sorry, but it takes lots of time and effort to record a whole series of story episodes.

If you are looking for a complete set of recordings for an Interactive Story, why don’t you take a look at The Water Car?

i wish i could have a interactive partner to work with this story and i am an english teacher from sri lanka . I think my English knowledge is ok yet need to be fluent. if anyone interested pls let me know by mailing me – sanjeewani1977@yahoo.com

Now I AM LEARNING ENGLISH And when I found this site did not understand, but now I am FANATIC all the time i’m listening and much more now i understand , thanks this is great help.
It is great. The stories are very excellent. I like it, site.
big hug

I think that the woman in this conversation, Graveyard, seems to hate answer. She is boring and not exellent. In addition to that, her voice isn’t clear. Is there any reason ? Is it a another way to improve listening skills for us who is not fluent in English ?

Its realy a very good thing. One can easily listen and understand each and every word that is basically the first step for speaking english. So far I have gone through only one exercise and it appealed me very much. I will keep on listening and practicing these exercise.

Hi Carlos,
thanks for your kind words. The real conversations can be downloaded to your mp3 player by clicking the download. Unfortunately there is no audio for the interactive stories. They are intended to be lessons for speaking practice.

You can practice listening by listening to “real conversations”in the metro. You can practice speaking and listening and grammar together by working on an interactive story with a friend, who is also an English learner.

Hi folks,
this is a wonderful initiative, the texts are very interesting and deserves applauses, but it is possible to liberate download of the dialogues to hear in the metro, for example?
thank you and good luck

HI, MARK… IT’S A VERY INTERESTING WAY TO PRACTISE ENGLISH!!!!! YOUR INTERACTIVE STORIES ARE VERY NICE TOO!
I REALLY LIKE THIS METHOD!!!!!! I’LL GO ON USING YOUR “ENGLISH CONVERSATION ” LESSONS!!
THANKS AND BEST REGARDS!!!!!
SEE YOU SOON!

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